Carmelo Anthony finished with 45 points in his return from knee injury, but the Knicks were doomed by poor defense and an awful start. Anthony Gruppuso/USA TODAY

The
biggest story of the night was the return of forward Amar'e Stoudemire (we
compiled all of his reviews from the six-point, 17-minute performance), but
it's hard to ignore a 45-point effort from Carmelo Anthony, who was also
returning from a knee injury, and the fact that the Knicks made another
brilliant comeback only to lose in the last minute for the second game in a
row.

The
Knicks 105-100 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers was significant for two other
reasons, as well: It's another example of New York's deteriorating defense and
the team's inability to get off to a hot start.

"Really,
it's the start of the game and that's on me," coach Mike Woodson said, as
quoted by Jared Zwerling of ESPNNewYork.com. "I've got to figure out
why we're coming out flat because, to me, it sets the tone in how we play. And
the last few outings have been a disaster in terms of how we started the game,
and I've got to help them figure it out.

"You can't keep spotting teams 20-plus leads and
think you're going to win,'' Woodson continued, as
quoted by Al Iannazzone of Newsday.
"The last few games have been a disaster in terms of how we're starting
games."

Despite
the poor start and the defensive struggles, however, Anthony nearly tied the
game with 30 seconds remaining, but his 3-point attempt bounced out.

• NJ.com's
Tony Williams wrote that Iman Shumpert made some progress in his attempt to
come back from a torn ACL: "Shumpert, the
second-year talent who tore his ACL in the first round of last season's
playoffs, mostly worked on the side court doing light contact drills and
strength and conditioning work with assistant coach LaSalle Thompson while the
rest of the team went through their usual practice paces."

• The
New York Post's Marc Berman wrote
that the Knicks struggled to contain rookie point guard Damian Lillard: "The Knicks were burned by rookie sensation point guard
Damian Lillard, who netted 21 points and buried a clutch last-minute 3-pointer.
Portland shot 50.6 percent from the floor as the Knicks defense looked to be
experiencing a New Year's hangover and Stoudemire not helping the cause."

• It was an unusually bad night for Kidd but Ronnie Brewer
bounced back, Begley
wrote: "Jason
Kidd played 33 minutes for the Knicks and finished with 0 points. He had three
assists and three steals... The Knicks were crushed on the boards (47-37) and on
points in the paint (48-36) by Portland. ..On a positive note, Ronnie
Brewer finished with five points and hit his first 3-pointer since Dec. 9.
He was 0 for his last 13.

• As
The New York Times' Zach Schonburn
wrote, the Knicks' offense consisted of Anthony, J.R. Smith and not much
else: "Only Anthony kept the Knicks afloat, hitting 8 of
11 shots in the first half. Anthony scored 13 of the team's first 16 points and
also banked in a desperation 3-pointer as the buzzer sounded to send the Knicks
into halftime down by 58-47... They came out of the intermission with more energy
and quickly trimmed Portland's lead to 3. J. R. Smith scored 8 points in the
third quarter, and the defense did a better job clamping down on J. J. Hickson,
who scored all 18 of his points in the first half."